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I can taste her fear like it’s my own, can feel her body screaming out for mine like I have all these years. Except this time, it’s a completely different kind of call. Not for completion, but for protection. She needs me, so I run, unthinking, in her direction.

And when I reach her, I am going to tear whatever is scaring her so badly limb from limb.

Chapter 15 - Mylah

Maybe coming out into the woods wasn’t such a good idea after all.

I might not be in my old nightgown and makeshift shoes, but it hasn’t seemed to help me. I made my escape in a pair of insulated leggings, a long-sleeve shirt, and a form-fitting down coat that Aurora ordered for me. Aurora didn’t ask questions when I requested a pair of nice boots, which are laced up on my feet now. They pinch slightly, since I didn’t get a chance to wear them in.

But when Aurora emphasized the fact that her brother was gone for the weekly kings’ meeting, I knew what she really meant.

It was a chance to run.

And so I did, using one of the side doors I learned about on our many outings. I got the panel in the bathroom moved and slid the book up there, figuring it wouldn’t be a good look for them to find it there. And I would hate for it to affect Aurora if they could trace it back to her.

I didn’t even pack a bag. Just chose the most running-esque clothes from what Aurora got me and took off at the first chance I got. I thought for sure one of the guards would come charging after me, but he didn’t even see me slip out through the door. Apparently, he still hasn’t.

I expected to feel a lot of things upon slipping out and running for the woods. Fear and adrenaline, yes.

But what I didn’t expect was the guilt. The feeling that I was, in some way, betraying Augustus by trying to escape again. Once I hit the tree line, the two sides of my brain started up.

He’s been nothing but kind to me!

Does kindness include keeping one in a locked, guarded room?

Augustus is kind, and surprisingly funny. And he smells good.

Yeah, so does freedom. And what happens when he gets bored of you?

I was so lost in my warring thoughts that I didn’t even notice the bear cub until I was right on top of her.

It’s my fault. Stupidly, my first reaction was to take a step toward the little thing—just a poor cub, lost without her mother. And so, so cute. The kind of little animal you just want to pick up and hug to your chest.

Then, just as I heard the first warning growl, I realized the last thing I ever should have done was get closer to the cub.

Now, I hold my breath and take a step backward, heart hammering in my chest. This might even be worse than the night I was kidnapped from my own place—at least that wasn’t my fault. At least then, there was nothing I could have done differently to change the outcome.

This has been completely my fault.

I could have taken a different path out. Could have paid closer attention as I ran, scenting my way more deliberately. I would have smelled the cub long before he ever had the chance to walk out near me.

But I was too busy thinking about Augustus. Running, breathing hard, feeling the pain of moving further and further away from his place, his scent. Him.

Stupidly, maybe I’d thought that he would sense me leaving and would come after me. Maybe I’d even thought that I wouldn’t even reach the edge of the forest, that he would be standing there, blocking my path, smirking at me.

But that didn’t happen, and he’s not here.

The mama bear takes another step toward me. I take another trembling step back. She sniffs loudly and paws at the ground, her claws digging into the snow and frozen dirt and leaving dark brown streaks.

If those claws can move so easily through the frozen earth, they will cut me into ribbons without any effort.

Throughout my life, I’ve never really thought about the fact that I can’t shift. It’s never really bothered me before. But right now? I think it would be pretty helpful to have four paws to run on. Maybe I still couldn’t outrun the bear, but it would be much better than these two shaking legs, topped off with too-stiff leather boots that pinch at my toes.

I take another step backward, and that seems to be the last strike for the bear in front of me. She lowers her nose, levels her gaze at me, and charges.

A scream rips out of my throat like the soul exiting my body, trying to get out so it doesn’t have to see the carnage that’s about to happen. And I can’t even be mad about it, not really. That mama bear just had to make a decision about protecting her baby. Maybe I should be flattered that she actually thought I was a threat.

I turn and start to run, actually feeling confident with the first few steps I take. Then, on the fourth step, I trip on something and go down hard.